We’re happy to announce that Alina Littek joins our team this week as a PhD student. She holds Master’s degrees from both Uppsala University and National Taiwan Normal University, where she explored innovative approaches to applying machine learning techniques to real-world problems. Welcome Alina!
We’re at the end of the first quarter of 2023 and apart from the usual ‘wow, where has the time gone?’ it’s also an opportunity to look at how the Centre has changed over the past few months. With current funding from IARPA, Dstl, AHRC, SNF, VW Stiftung, EMIF and H2020, we have been building the team and offering many welcomes in one form or another. Starting in January, Nicole Orr, who has been connected with ARG-tech since even before she started her undergraduate degree, embarked on her PhD with us. Later that month, Cameron Bryce came to us as an intern with a brief on DevOps, joining Zvony Delas and Idris Mahamdi, who between them have inaugurated our new Internship Programme. Less than a week later, Eimear Maguire came from Paris Cité to join us as a postdoc to work on computational pragmatics and models of discourse. The week after that, Godfrey Inyama fresh with his MSc from Heriot Watt, started as a PhD student working in deep learning models of dialogue. At the start of February, Suzanne Duce trekked all the way from the other side of campus to join us in helping to manage the increasing organisational workload across all of the various threads of research. Then technically on the same day, Ramon Ruiz Dolz from UPV in Valencia joined as a postdoc, but practicalities meant that it was not until today that he joins us physically in Dundee.
So it’s been a busy start to the year. But it’s exciting. The buzz in the air in our labs is palpable as work starts on several new initiatives; the vibrancy of the group is addictive. One of the things I love the most is the rapid identification of new and interesting problems and the small teams forming ad hoc to dig into them from the many disciplinary backgrounds represented here.
With this signficant uptick in the size of the team, we’re going to be able to start to tackle more and bigger problems, and to really accelerate on some of the deep challenges in argument technology. The rest of 2023 is going to be an exciting ride!
We are delighted to welcome Mark K. Smith into the group as an Honorary Professor. Mark is CEO of ContactEngine, a company specialising in conversational AI. ARG-tech and ContactEngine have been collaborating for some time now exploring ideas underpinning Human Computer Rapport, an integrated way of handling conversational context. Mark’s appointment in recognition of his leadership and insight in AI R&D represents a ramping up in this collaboration which will see close working between the two teams.
The start of the year has seen some exciting staff changes in ARG-tech. We welcome Dimitra Zografistou, who joins us from FORTH to work on models of argument representation. Rory Duthie is finishing writing up his thesis and starting to work as a research assistant on connections between argumentation and hypotheses. And finally, John Lawrence and Jacky Visser have both been appointed to permanent lectureships in the group.
Exciting times!
We are delighted to report that Rory Duthie has been awarded Best Student Paper Prize at the 6th International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA 2016) in Potsdam. Rory has just started the second year of his PhD under the supervision of Katarzyna Budzynska, and was awarded the prize for his paper, Mining Ethos in Political Debate.
RCUK Stipend (£14,296 tax-free per annum in 2016/17).
Fixed Term 42 months.
Applications are invited for a PhD student to work in the interdisciplinary area lying between computational linguistics and argumentation. The studentship aims to explore techniques in computational linguistics, text mining and deep learning to exploit theories of argument structure and classical rhetoric in order to automatically identify human reasoning in unconstrained natural language texts. Because of the team’s current research with IBM, the research conducted as a part of this PhD studentship will also be able to make use of Bluemix and Watson components.
Argument Mining – automatically extracting the structure of reasoning from text – is an exciting and rapidly expanding area of computational linguistics and text analytics. In 2013, there were only a handful of papers in the area; since then, there have been a range of specialised international events, including a new annual workshop series, hundreds of papers, and dozens of research groups around the world gearing up to tackle the problem. The Centre for Argument Technology is playing a significant role in this field, providing not only theoretical advances but also some of the most widely used software tools and datasets.
The PhD student will be able to explore theories of argument structure from linguistic and computational perspectives with a view to automatically extracting such structure. The work will involve working in one or more application domains, and could involve working with commercial partners.
A basic understanding of linguistics or computational linguistics would be a significant advantage, whilst exposure to theories of reasoning, argument or critical thinking would be a benefit. Candidates would typically be expected to have, or be on track for, a first class honours degree or equivalent, or a distinction at Masters level.
The post will be held in the Centre for Argument Technology in the School of Science & Engineering at the University of Dundee. At the most recent REF, research in the discipline of Computer Science was rated third in Scotland, with 79% of its research rated world-leading or internationally excellent (4* or 3*). Dundee has been ranked amongst the top places in the world for scientists to work (The Scientist), and has one of the lowest costs of living in the UK.
Though candidates of any nationality may apply, the post only includes fees at Home/EU level, so fees would be levied by the University on students who do not meet the definition of Home/EU students.
The starting date for the 42-month PhD studentship is negotiable.
More information is available from the research group web site at http://arg.tech, and applicants should apply by sending a CV and covering letter to Prof. Chris Reed. Closing date for applications is 31 August 2016.
We are delighted today to welcome Jacky Visser to the ARG-tech team. Jacky joins us from the University of Amsterdam and will be working as a postdoc on the EPSRC-funded Argument Mining project.
We are delighted today to welcome back Martín Pereira Fariña, who visited the group from September to December, 2015. He has recently won funding and this time joins us for two years until June 2018. Martin will be working on overlaps between fuzzy logic and argumentation.
We are delighted to welcome Elaine McIntyre to the group as secretary and PA. Elaine will be supporting much of the day-to-day smooth running of the group, and will also be contributing to looking after relationships with our commercial partners, collaborators and users.
Vacancy for Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader
£34,576 to £55,389 Full Time, Permanent. Closing Date: 27 February 2016
The University of Dundee’s School of Science & Engineering is advertising several permanent posts including one covering the Centre for Argument Technology. We are particularly keen to receive applications from candidates in Computational Linguistics to expand the group’s research in Argument Mining (see argmining2016.arg.tech and arg.tech/am), but welcome applications in all areas of the overlap between argumentation and artificial intelligence. A strong publication profile is essential, and for more senior appointments, so is a track record of funding success.
For further information about the Centre for Argument Technology, please see arg.tech or contact Prof. Chris Reed; for more information about the position, see arg.tech/lecturer. General details follow.
Summary of Job Purpose and Principal Duties
The University of Dundee is seeking an exceptional candidate to join one of our Computing research groups, based within the School of Science and Engineering. The successful candidate will develop new research lines within either the (i) Human Centred Computing Group; (ii) the Centre for Argument Technology; or (iii) the Space Technology Centre. Full information on the current research in each group can be found in the Further Particulars.
The successful candidate is expected to have a strong track record of research and a clear research plan that articulates with (or expands significantly) one of these areas. They will be expected to contribute to the development of research in this area by publishing in the highest quality journals and attracting appropriate research funding. For appointments at Grade 8 and 9, candidates are expected to show evidence of having attracted independent funding. The School encourages applications from holders of personal Fellowships.
Additionally, the successful candidate will be expected to take an active role in the teaching of undergraduate computing programmes as well as supporting teaching at Masters level.
Job Summary
Application RequirementsIn addition to the online form, applicants must include with their application:
Apply here.
